


The reason why Elwin can never take a break

by LinhamonRoll



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Fever, Fluff, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 03:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinhamonRoll/pseuds/LinhamonRoll
Summary: Needing to go back to sleep after eight hours of sleep was normal, right ?





	The reason why Elwin can never take a break

Keefe felt weird, weirder than usual. He had had his eight hours of required beauty sleep, but he still felt tired. Nothing that would stop him to hang out with his friends at the sleepover that night, but his throat felt weird too, scratchy, but not enough to make him cough. It was probably nothing, something he had eaten.

He shivered. Why was it so cold in here ? Did Juline come to Everglen earlier ? Keefe rummaged through his drawers to find the comfiest, biggest hoodie he had. Better. As the warmth flooded all over him, he flopped back on the bed. Taking a nap 20 minutes after waking up couldn't be a bad idea, right ?

When he woke up, he felt better, less tired. The scratchiness was gone,so even if he had a faint headache now, he was fine ! He felt awfully hot though, why had he thought for a second that it was a good idea to go to sleep in a hoodie ? Keefe was covered in sweat now, and this hoodie retched.

The shower would help, nevermind the water was so cold it felt like icicles against his skin. He was waiting for the water to warm up, but after all, cold water was good for his hair, so he felt with it. He was still dying for a warm shower right now, all of his muscles were sore. Tam knocked on the bathroom’s door.

“You’ve been in here for an hour, hurry up ! I need to use the shower too !” How had it been an hour ? The water hadn’t even warmed up yet. He finished showering quickly, and grabbed the fuzziest, softest towel of them all, who cared if it was Sophie’s, and got out.

“Whoa dude, you look more like shit than usual.” 

“Thanks, you too, bangs boy.” Keefe, rolled his eyes. He wanted to go back to his dark, cold room. Why was it even that hot here ? He had been shivering under the shower a minute ago. Now, he was sweating like…

He felt a cold hand on his shoulder. “Hey, I- why are you so hot ?”

Keefe smirked “Aw, you think I’m hot !” That was cute, but now, he had a bed he had to get back to. Too bad that he couldn’t keep Tam’s hand with him, the cold felt nice. He felt like he had worked out for hours yesterday, and he hoped that lying with a blanket on top would help with the soreness. He wasn’t hungry anyways, so staying upstairs would be fine. He was starting to leave, but Tam stopped him.

“You’re burning up, dude” Tam was running cold, but it was alright, it was comfortable. Keefe raised his hand to his forehead. It wasn’t that bad, maybe a little hotter than usual, but nothing too alarming either.

“Don’t worry, Shadow Man, I’m fine.” It was probably a cold, Sophie had talked about these, and it was possible he had caught one while fighting the Neverseen in London. Right. Now he needed to get to his room. The problem was he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do that anymore, he kinda felt like he would fall if he took one step over. Okay he had to do this, he wasn’t gonna be stopped by a simple cold. One step at the time. Here we go. He could do this. 

Keefe couldn’t. He still managed to take the first step. More or less. He fell right on Tam. 

“Okay, Mr I’m Absolutely Not Sick, let's get you back to bed...” That… did sound better than he cared to admit. 

Together, they walked to Keefe’s room. Well, it was more like Tam carrying Keefe and supporting ninety percent of his weight, but they made it all the same. Once Keefe was finally settled in, he fully realized how bad he was feeling. How did he think for a second he would be able to go to the sleepover ? He was swimming in his own sweat. Why was it so hot ? Did someone turn on the heat ? Everything was too hot, his bed, his pillow, his blanket… why did he even have a blanket ? Keefe pushed it away, but as soon as the air hit his skin he pulled it back up. His room was freezing ! They needed to turn the heat on. He couldn’t find a position where he was comfortable, all of his joints screaming each time he moved. 

Tam left him. Keefe hadn’t even realized he was stroking his hair but now he was leaving and Keefe didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want him to leave, because if he was gone then that meant Keefe was all alone. And right now that sounded terrifying.

Then, as quickly as he was gone, Tam was back. But he didn’t go back to stroking his hair, instead he put a cold washcloth on Keefe’s forehead, and god if that didn’t feel amazing. Soon, it felt damp, water mixed with burning sweat. It hurt so bad it was ridiculous, his whole body was on fire. Tam changed the cloth three times before helping him sit up. The room was spinning fast. Did the Neverseen do something to it ? Who the heck was touching him ? What was in the glass they were giving him ? Was it poisoned? It had to be. He tried to take the cup and throw it at them, but his hands were shaking so hard he only managed to spill it on himself. It was so so so cold he was shaking from everywhere and his teeth were clacking.

“C’mon, you need to drink or you’ll dehydrate” he knew this voice. Oh. How had he forgotten Tam ? Keefe’d been in love with him for as long as he could remember.

“What ?” Oops. He had said that out loud. He hummed and tugged on Tam’s sleeve. He would deal with this latter, but right now he wanted cuddles.

“Come here” Tam lay beside him and snuggled his face in Keefe’s hair.

“I swear if I catch this thing, I’m gonna kill you.” Keefe could worry about that later. Right now, the guy he was in love with, who so happened to be the perfect temperature to be the nicest thing ever, was lying in bed with him. So he got on his side, grabbed Tam’s arm and tried to get comfortable

Keefe was woken up by the intense need to throw up. He rushed to the bathroom and all but falled to his knees in front of the toilets. His stomach was killing him, and he felt like he was going to throw up, but all he did was gag without being able to get anything out but too thick saliva and acid bile. Still, his body kept wanting to get more out. Before long, Tam was there, rubbing circles on his back and gently stroking his hair. 

“It’s okay, get it all out.” 

Once his stomach had finally settled, more or less, he slumped against the wall. Tam sat next to him. He was perfect for Keefe to put his head on his shoulder. The cool felt nice. 

“Sorry I woke you.” He sounded awful, his voice all scratched up.

“‘S fine” he sounded even more tired than Keefe, who wasn’t as hot as before, so at least that was that. Soon, they were both asleep again.

To say the morning was worse was an understatement. Keefe wasn’t on fire anymore, he felt like he was in a freezer. He was shaking, shivering and coughing, and all of his body was in pain every time he breathed. He felt like his bones were cracking open, and his head was exploding. He let out a couple of white hot tears. His fever was even higher than the day before, and he hurt so much he didn’t even think he would be able to get to his bed without throwing up. Everything hurt, the wall behind him, the light filtering below the door, the faint noise of Verdi outside, everything.

Tam was panicking. He didn’t know what he could do to help. Just carrying Keefe to his bed had him whimpering in pain and shaking like crazy. Nothing he did seemed to help : he had tried to get Keefe’s fever down by turning on the air conditioning, and Keefe had started shivering in his sleep and clacking his teeth; Tam had tried to make him drink a bottle of Youth, but he had thrown it back up right away. The only thing he could do was to hold him during his fever induced nightmares and pray that Sophie would manage to contact Elwin so he could come back early from his mystery vacations.

This day was essentially Keefe passing in and out of consciousness and Tam trying to focus on the book he was reading. Yeah that wasn’t working. He just wanted Keefe to get better already so he could stop worrying about whether or not it was a good sign Keefe had stopped vomiting. He had stopped pretending not to worry hours ago, when Sophie had found him smoothing Keefe’s hair on his forehead.

He fell asleep while holding him during nightmare number 158 of the day.

When Keefe woke up with a personal living heater against his back, he didn’t question it, he pressed closer to Tam. He felt better, like he wasn’t going to pass out if he tried to walk. He wasn’t sweating either, so he supposed his fever had gone down a notch. He dozed off pretty quickly after that.

He woke up again, but without Tam behind him. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t here though, as he was stroking Keefe’s hair while holding a plate with a good dozen of rifflepuffs. He couldn’t help it, he leaned in the touch and hummed in contentement. What a sight to wake up too, his two favorite things in the world.

Tam chuckled . “I sure hope I pass before the rifflepuffs, though.” Oops. Keefe shrugged. He was too tired to care. He considered closing his eyes and going back to sleep for a split second, but the temptation of pastries was too strong. He sat up on the bed.

Tam tapped a finger to his chin, to look like he was considering pros and cons of giving a rifflepuff to Keefe before taking one and eating it himself. Keefe feigned to be outraged.

“How dare you do this to me ? My own flesh, my own blood !”

Tam rolled his eyes and tried to look annoyed, but the smile kinda gave it away. “I’ve been dealing with you for two entire days, I deserve to see you suffer.” He ate a second one. 

Things kinda escalated from there. Keefe was trying to steal at least one pastry, while Tam ate them before he could. He still got the last one, and let out a cry of joy when he finally ate it. That didn’t last very long though, Tam almost immediately hit him with a pillow, and Keefe obviously had to get revenge, so now, they were sitting next to each other, laughing after the biggest pillow fight they ever had.

“You’re gonna kill me one day, you little shit.”

“You love me,” Keefe huffed. He was leaning on Tam, his head on his shoulder, and Tam was playing with Keefe’s hair.

Tam sighed, and kissed his hair. “I really do.” Keefe stood up immediately with his eyes open wide. What ? When did that happen ? Not that he was complaining or anything.

“What did I tell you ?” He couldn’t remember most of the last two days, still fuzzy and blurred, which wasn’t exactly surprising, but still. “Not that I’m not happy about… that,” he said, gesturing between them.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, honeybee,” Tam smirked. Keefe grunted and went back to Tam’s shoulder, pouting. Tam chuckled, the audacity, and resumed his stroking. He couldn’t help it, Keefe leaned in the touch, humming. 

“‘My god. You’re a dog. How didn’t I see it sooner ?” How could Keefe still pout when he said that ? He stood up again, waiting for a sign that Tam would be alright with what he would do next. He nodded.

Keefe leaned in and suddenly, he was kissing Tam. There were no fireworks, no sparks, no butterflies, just warmth and peace. And if that wasn’t the best feeling ever, then Keefe didn’t know what it was. Tam’s hands were always in his hair, but now it was his turn. He had been dying to pass his finger through this hair for long enough. It felt amazing, and he was so so happy to be able to do that now. They broke the kiss for air after what felt like seconds.

He felt like he could keep kissing Tam forever, and maybe he actually could. Now if that wasn’t something to look forward to. Keefe broke into laughter.

“Why the heck did it take us so long ?”


End file.
